World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (March 17-19, 2012)

On Saturday The Washington Post published an article entitled 'In Israel, prospect of war with Iran raises questions about home-front defense.' The author of the article, Karin Brulliard, says the Israelis are thinking seriously about a possible war, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned sharply this week that he reserved the right to unilaterally strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, an act officials and analysts warn would trigger a retaliatory spray of rockets and missiles onto the economic hub of Tel Aviv and other populous coastal districts.

On Monday the same newspaper published an article by Jackson Diehl headlined 'Why the U.S. should intervene in Syria.' "So far, however, facts and history haven’t helped much in the Syria debate. Instead, all sides are playing their usual roles. The Pentagon is talking about Syria’s allegedly formidable air defenses. Self-styled “realists” are claiming that helping the Syrian opposition will only inflame an incipient civil war. Obama is saying that “the best thing we can do” is to “unify” the “international community," says the author, concluding that the massacre will go on if the United States doesn't interfere.

On Sunday The Guardian published a review of Nuri Bilge Ceylan's latest film 'Once Upon a Time in Anatolia'. "Turkish film-maker Nuri Bilge Ceylan initially trained as an electrical engineer and worked as a commercial photographer until becoming a full-time director. Now in his early 50s, he's one of the most significant moviemakers to have emerged this century," the article reads, "His finest work to date, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, is a carefully controlled masterpiece. As the title suggests, it's a sort of fable with a very specific location in the Asian part of his native land. It's also (and the title inevitably evokes Leone's two violent classics) an exercise in popular genre cinema, in this case the crime scene investigation picture. The themes are universal and it could be reworked without much difficulty on the steppes of Russia, in the hill country of Texas or the desert of Rajasthan – anywhere where people get casually killed and other people come together to tidy up the mess."

On Monday the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet published an article by Osman Koruturk entitled 'Arab Revolution: Should we call it Spring?' "It has been nearly a year and a half since the young Tunisian cart vendor Mohammad Bouazizi set himself on fire, triggering the uprisings that came to be known as the “Arab Spring”, the author says, adding "No one would have guessed that this tragic incident would spark a popular movement that would change the whole Middle East. The oppressed people’s longings for democracy and basic freedoms, the wide use of the Internet and other social media to spread revolutionary ideas, coupled with the violent responses of the regimes gave a romantic aspect to the movement." The author tries to find out what has happened to realize the people’s wishes for democracy, freedoms and prosperity. "While in countries like Egypt and Tunisia, state-controlled elections have given rise to non-functional oppositions, in others, there has never been any formation that could be called a democratic opposition. None of the “Arab Spring” countries have experienced real democracy," he concludes.